With vacancy and turnover rates both falling, there are positive signs of stability for the social care workforce. The report demonstrates how a better supported workforce leads to high-quality care and improved outcomes for people who draw on care and support. This positive trend is one we need to continue building on for the long term.
There is some cause for concern at the lack of growth of our domestic workforce, coupled with falling numbers of internationally recruited care workers. With the tightening immigration rules for overseas care staff that are driving the latter seemingly here to stay, there must be a concerted effort to build social care as an attractive career for people to join and remain in.
This report comes in the wake of the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care’s commitment to better support and value the social care workforce through fair pay, clearer career pathways, investment in training and development, and a collective pension scheme. These announcements are overdue recognition of the compassionate and skilled individuals who care for us all. The workforce is this sector’s backbone, and for too long it has been undervalued and under-recognised by decision-makers.
Moving these reforms forward serves to benefit not just those working in care, but crucially those who draw on care and support, the taxpayer and the wider economy.
Gerard Crofton-Martin
Interim Chief Executive, SCIE